INCA’s mission is to analyse the hegemony of large platforms, not only at the economic/industrial and political level but also the cultural dimension of this hegemony, which is more subtle but penetrates the social structure of our societies. First of all, a literature review will set the basis of how large platforms develop and use discourse and rhetoric to legitimate their activity and directly influence public opinion with the positive and appealing impact of digital technologies, their social benefits, the usability of e-commerce, etc.
INCA is preparing a questionnaire to carry out a survey across 15 European countries, reaching 20.000 responses, to collect citizens’ beliefs regarding big-tech platforms, assess the extent to which European citizens accept that GAFAM play a central role in the political, social and economic dimensions, and what role they assign to public governments. At the same time, the survey will evaluate whether and how the imaginary produced by these companies’ discourse influences public opinion. The expectation is that people’s attitudes and perceptions of big tech companies vary across countries, and across cultures.